Stupid Bare Shaft Tuning Question

[MikeW]

I've been thinking about this for awhile now.
Why do you need to shoot 3 fletched arrows?
If you know you can hit where you want why can't you just shoot 3 unfletched shafts and tune them till they hit the bull you are aiming at?

And an other thought is say you have a dozen brand new arrows and lots of other fletched arrows laying around that are pretty close to the right spine for your bow and all you want to do is tune the new arrows. Can't you just use your other fletched arrows and tune the new arrows to those?

[Al Dean]

To be honest, anymore out of a set of matched arrows I shoot 1 bare shaft.  When I get it to fly perfect at 30yds, no up,down, left or right movement, and it hits exactly where I am aiming, I am done.  I guess this is not good enough, but it is good enough for me.

[bkupris]

I will probably get hammered for this but here it goes anyway..

Just because your bareshaft groups with your fletched arrows doesn't mean your arrows are perfect for your bow setup. Many top target archers will fine tune their bow setups/arrows and what they are most interested in is group size of their fletched arrows. The smaller the better    It is not unusual to actually end up with the bareshafts NOT grouping with the fletched arrows when the smallest groups are attained.

Bareshafting is a good starting point only.

[southpawshooter]

I'm with ya' bkupris - I bareshaft tune as a starting point and then tune fletched shafts, both with fieldpoints and then broadheads.  I think many guys kill themsleves trying to bareshaft tune at long distances.  At long ranges most folks do not have the skill to send a bareshaft to the target.  Alot can go wrong at distance.  An arrow should be corrected of paradox in a short distance anyway. A bareshaft should be flying great at 10 to 15 yds. Then fletch them up and shoot at your comfortable maximum range for the fine tuning.

Flack jacket on    :D

[Timberghost]

10-4 bkupris and southpawshooter!  

I bare shaft tune INDOORS at @ 15 yards.  That's it. Then I tune each fletched arrow to the bow by adjusting nock to feather orientation. Each one will contact the shelf differently and possibly fly differently.    

And I make sure I'm shooting into a soft but dense foam target butt too.  I use a bright or white nock and follow its path down range to see its flight.  Either it flies right or it don't.

[Scott J. Williams]

I will likely get hammered for this, but what the heck I chase bad guys for a living.  If your bare shaft is not grouping with your feathered shafts you DO NOT have the best tune.  Having said that, if you are happy with what you have more power to you.  

I will add this, if you measure your penatration from your current setup, and it's speed(I crono my arrows in the tuning process)and then bare shaft and get all of the arrows grouping together, you will find that your arrow speed will up, your penatration will will be better, and in some cases even your bow will be more "silent".  

I use to be one to say, heck I hunt with broadheads, why should I worry about my field points.  Thank God I have seen the light.  If you think you shoot well now, try the bare shaft and see just how accurate a stickbow can be....

[O.L. Adcock]

Scotty, Go get em, my wife is retired LE..     Kbupris.."Just because your bareshaft groups with your fletched arrows doesn't mean your arrows are perfect for your bow setup." That's true in that the weight of the fletching will make the arrows behave slightly stiffer. That's why I recommend a slightly weak and slightly nock set high bare shaft group at 20 yards. How much weak and low depends on a persons abilty to shoot a group but in general the groups need to overlap be they 2" or 18" at 20 yards or 60. Those that drive themselves nuts are usually doing it to themselves trying to use the kick method instead of the planning method or mixing the two...O.L.

[Scott J. Williams]

O.L. You got me again, I am left eye dominate, I am right handed so I switched about seven years ago. It only took me two weeks!  I tune my bare shafts to shoot just to the right side of the spot at fifteen yards.  I leave the quill, in other words I will take a fletched shaft and cut the feather off, I want to see where there is contact with the shelf.  I tune by rotating the nocks, to eliminate bad shelf contact.  When I shoot the fletched arrows they hit the mark.  I then take a few fletched arrows with field points, and shoot them with my broadheads(always shoot the broadheads first, that way you don't shoot the feathers off of yours field tipped arrows)most times all is well, but sometimes I need to raise or lower the nock to get the tightest group.  I then shoot these arrows out to thrity five yards for groups, that is my max effective range for any hunting that I will be doing.  Now that I have covered it all, tell me O.L. am I on the right track.....Kodos to the wife,  I have been with HPD for twenty five years....Aren't LE people some of the neatest people around....LOL

[O.L. Adcock]

Sounds like you're right on Scotty. Yep, high quills can sure cause fits snagging on rugs or leather. For right handed shooters left wing helicals seem to clear best and vice versa. You did the right thing (or left thing?) switching hands. I'm right handed/eyed but can shoot both ways, had to learn teaching youngsters cause they can't cross hands in their minds without "seeing" it. I even shot 1 class at the flight nationals left handed!   .....O.L.

[Shawn Leonard]

OL is right on. I use his method and have alway liked a slightly weak bareshaft, nock orientation means less to me. I now can tune most any arrow to any bow by just adjusting point weight as over the years I have aquired every way concievable to get the point weights I need. Shawn

[O.L. Adcock]

MikeW, "I've been thinking about this for awhile now.
Why do you need to shoot 3 fletched arrows?
If you know you can hit where you want why can't you just shoot 3 unfletched shafts and tune them till they hit the bull you are aiming at?"

Seems we all missed this part....To make adjustments you have to know which way to go. To do that you need a reference point. Fletched arrows even if poorly spined go very close to where they are "pointed". Bare shafts or wide broadheads will not. The fletched field tips are your reference, the relationship between them and the bare shafts tells you what is wrong spine/nock set wise.

You can't just shoot bare shafts without a reference. Where you think you are "aiming" and where they are "pointed" are 2 different things. Our pea brains naturally try to line things up and are pretty quick to make adjustments when they don't. If bare shafts aren't going where you think they are pointed, your mind will make adjustments so they will but the tuning problems still exist. This is the same logic the compounders use when BH won't fly where their field tips do. Instead of fixing the tuning errors they move the sights to compensate. We want where they are pointed and where we are aiming to be one and the same.....O.L.